December 17, 2025
Help and more after a fractured knee
By Joy Rojas
As a regular of Tzu Chi Foundation’s quarterly Charity Day for medical assistance beneficiaries since 2024, Michael Molve still cannot believe his luck. How is it that the foundation’s volunteers continue to look after him, when they already provided him with the means to undergo much-needed surgery?
“Even things you don’t ask for, they give willingly,” he said in awe during the last Charity Day of the year on December 14 at Buddhist Tzu Chi Campus (BTCC) in Sta. Mesa, Manila. The event, which was held together with scholars’ Humanities Class, was attended by 109 medical assistance beneficiaries, who each received 20 kgs of rice, salt, vegan patis (fish sauce), conditioner, and shampoo and bodywash.
Molve equates Tzu Chi’s generosity to that of a mother’s love. “When you’re not feeling well, you don’t have to say anything,” explained the 45-year-old father of a teenage son. “A mother already knows and she’ll give you what you need.”
Like a number of medical assistance beneficiaries, Molve learned about Tzu Chi after figuring in an accident. On June 19, 2022, he and his wife Sheryl were on their way home to Alabang, Muntinlupa, on his motorcycle after visiting her relatives in Bicol.
It was late, dark, and raining by the time they reached Atimonan, Quezon. Suddenly, Molve drove over a pothole and lost his balance. The couple fell over, and while Sheryl incurred scratches on her arm, he bore the brunt of the mishap when his right leg was pinned under his motorcycle.
Bystanders at a nearby gasoline station scrambled to help. At a hospital in Lucena, an x-ray revealed a fractured right knee and a severely damaged right ankle. Doctors recommended a full knee replacement but Molve, a field sales officer, didn’t have the resources for it.
So he chose for his leg to be cemented, and made do by working online and depending on a walker to get around. Two months later, when the cast was removed, his knee had not totally healed, leaving him in pain and limited range of motion. That’s when he began looking for financial assistance for surgery.
Government agencies only gave so much, that the Guarantee Letters he accumulated while approaching others for help expired before he was able to use them.
One day, he was going over a list of organizations that could help him secure funding for his procedure, when he came upon the Tzu Chi Foundation, a name and group he had never heard of. “But I said, ‘Why not try?’ and we went the following day,” he said.
Despite walking in without an appointment, Molve was received by Tzu Chi volunteers who advised him of the requirements and instructed him to submit them online. “I remember that day in March,” he said with a smile. “It was two weeks before my birthday.”
On April 5, 2023, his request to fund a total knee replacement was presented and approved by Tzu Chi volunteers.
To correct the neglected tibial plateau fracture, lateral collateral ligament, and deep peroneal nerve injury on his right leg, he underwent his first surgery in July 2024 and his second a month later, both at the Philippine Orthopedic Center.
The help did not end there. As head of the household, Molve, who had to leave his job due to his condition, also received cash assistance from Tzu Chi. Month after surgery, when Tzu Chi social worker Jackie Raper learned he was paying for his physical therapy sessions (albeit at a discounted rate), she had him avail of the service at Tzu Chi’s Free Clinic in BTCC.
“Isn’t that a little too much?” he asked timidly. “You have given me so much already.”
“We are happy to help you,” assured Raper.
In turn, Molve is making good use of the assistance extended to him. Showing no indication that his right knee had been fractured or replaced with a metal implant, he is back to being his productive self, working as a field sales officer of lubricants. Although doctors think he could benefit from a third surgery, this time on his foot, he walks pain-free, can stay on his feet for long periods, and even drive a motorcycle.
After one of the worst days of his life, it was nothing but kindness from hereon. “If it weren’t for Tzu Chi,” he said, “I wouldn’t be here today.”
Michael Molve claims his 20 kg rice and groceries after attending Charity Day on December 14.
At the Philippine Orthopedic Center, a brace and cast kept his right leg stable.
An x-ray of Michael Molve’s right knee shows the metal implant that Tzu Chi helped him secure.
Although Michael Molve’s right knee appears okay after two months in a cast, it didn’t heal completely, and for a while, he depended on a walker.
Michael Molve and his wife Sheryl (second and third from right) receive Tzu Chi volunteers in a home visit on October 12, 2023.
At the December 14 Charity Day, volunteers prepared prescription medicines for beneficiaries to claim after the program.
Guest speaker Richard Lumbera shares his experience as medical assistance beneficiary. Through Tzu Chi’s timely intervention, the cardiac patient underwent mitral and aortic valve surgery in 2022, and was fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator in September 2025.
Medical assistance beneficiaries participate in a group prayer for good health and peace in the world.